Polk family donates record-breaking $10 million to Detroit Zoo for penguin center

Daily Tribune/VAUGHN GURGANIAN
Stephen Polk, center, vice chair of the Detroit Zoological Society, flanked by Ron Kagan, DZS CEO, left, and Gail Warden, DZS chairman of the board, talks about the plans to build the $21 million Polk Family Penguin Conservation Center. The Polk family donated $10 million to the 24,000-square-foot facility, slated to open by the end of 2015.

To make a philanthropic investment in the Penguin Conservation Center, visit www.detroitzoo.org/support/pcc.

By CAROL HOPKINS

carol.hopkins@oakpress.com; @OPCarolHopkins

Bloomfield Hills resident Stephen Polk started his educational career majoring in wildlife biology.

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On Wednesday, Polk, 57 — who left biology as a young man to concentrate on the family business, Southfield-based R. L. Polk & Co. — was applauded by Detroit Zoo officials for presenting $10 million to the zoo for development of a new $18 million Polk Family Penguin Conservation Center.

The funding provides the Royal Oak-based zoo with the largest donation in its history, allowing zoo officials to create the largest project ever undertaken.

“I’ve always loved wildlife,” said Polk at a press conference held to reveal the grant.

“I just feel very fortunate that (my wife) Bobbi and I are in a position to make a gift like this and bring something important to Detroit.”

The new 24,000-square-foot facility, which is shaped like an abstract iceberg, will feature a penguin “deep dive” with views above and below water as the birds move through a chilled 310,000-gallon, 25-foot-deep aquatic area.

The entry plaza will include a water feature that will be a splash area in the summer and a skating rink in winter. The facility, designed by Jones & Jones and Albert Kahn Associates, will feature 4D effects such as arctic blasts and rough waves and snow.

The building — to be constructed on a 2.1-acre site near the zoo’s entrance — will open in 2015.

He said the zoo has worked with penguin conservation dating back to the 1960s.

“We believe (the donation) positions us to be great.”

The Polks informed zoo officials of their donation about two months ago, said Kagan.

Around that same time, Colorado-based IHS Inc., business data firm, announced it had completed its acquisition of R.L. Polk & Co. Crain’s Detroit Business reported in June the sale totaled $1.4 billion.

The Polks’ donation will be a catalyst for others, said zoo officials.

Already another $1 million has been donated, Kagan said, but every amount helps “whether it’s $10 from a 6-year-old in Clawson or Iowa who cares about penguins. This (facility) will have incredible widespread appeal.”

Zoo board member Joel Tauber noted, “Visitors love penguins.”

Kagan agreed, “Penguins are very active animals. (In their facility) there is always something going on.”

Tauber called the announcement “very, very exciting.”

“It is part of the overall strategy for this zoo over the next five to 10 years to keep improving.”

Zoo officials said that more than 100 design, engineering and construction jobs will be created and sustained for the estimated two-year construction period, and the facility will add several full-time employees to zoo staff. With an associated annual increase of 100,000 visitors, the new attraction is expected to have an economic impact of more than $3 million per year.

The old penguin facility near the zoo entrance will be repurposed to become another conservation center, not yet disclosed by officials.

“The design of this unique facility has been informed and inspired by the harsh and visceral ice world of Antarctica. The end result will be an extraordinary and authentic polar experience,” said polar ecologist and penguin expert Bill Fraser, who served as a design consultant on the project.